Mother of brothers fatally struck on I-5 by Sacramento police detective sues city
The mother of two brothers who died when a Sacramento police detective crashed into them on Interstate 5 in December has sued the city.
Virginia Carranza, of Ventura County, filed the wrongful death lawsuit last month in Sacramento Superior Court against the city and Det. Jonathan Thomas Nangle, who was on duty and driving the police vehicle that crashed into the brothers.
Juan Carlos Rodriguez, 33 of Sacramento, and Lionel Rodriguez, 32 of Simi Valley, were standing on the shoulder of I-5 near Sutterville Road the morning of Dec. 6 near a broken down pickup truck. Nangle was driving in a police vehicle, an unmarked Ford Fusion, when he crashed into the pickup and then struck the brothers. A California Highway Patrol news release at the time said Nangle struck them “for an unknown reason.”
The brothers were Carranza’s only two sons, and they supported her financially, the lawsuit alleged.
“Virginia aches with the thought that she will never again have her boys over for dinner, see them on holidays, or hug them,” the lawsuit stated. “The moments that her mind gets distracted with the daily drumming of life inevitably get interrupted with this heartbreaking reminder, and Virginia breaks down again ... She lost two men whom she expected, and who would happy, to take care of her into her twilight years. It never crossed her mind that they would leave this earth before she did.”
The brothers had three children, ages 10, 6 and 5, according to a GoFundMe page the family set up after their deaths.
The city declined to comment on the lawsuit other than to say CHP is currently investigating and has not concluded its investigation, city spokesman Tim Swanson said.
Nangle is still a police detective, the same position he had prior to the crash, Swanson said.
Swanson declined to answer whether the city has placed Nangle on paid leave or has disciplined him in any way.
The city has not yet provided any police disciplinary records from any incidents, except for one, from a request The Sacramento Bee filed March 17 through a California Public Records Act.
The collision that killed the brothers wasn’t Nangle’s first on duty crash. He was behind the wheel in an April 2021 collision at the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and 47th Avenue, according to a civil lawsuit filed in Sacramento Superior Court in 2021. Emily Keophommachak, who was injured in the crash, filed the lawsuit against the city and Nangle. The city paid a $15,000 settlement in that case.
Nangle has been a city employee since September 2013, according to a city roster The Bee obtained through a PRA. As of March, he was assigned to the unit handling major property crimes, and his base salary was roughly $133,000.
This story was originally published June 8, 2023 at 5:00 AM.
